December 9, 2008

iChange


Life should include change. Not change for the sake of changing, just to prove a point, but rather change due to experiences that are encountered on a daily basis. Experiences that come from people, places, analyzing ideas: these play a role in the constant growth that should take place over the course of one’s life, from birth until death.

Over the last 32 years, I’ve been exposed to ideas that I like and ideas that I dislike. I’ve been exposed to people whom I like and people whom I dislike. I’ve been places where I’d like to visit again and places where I’ll never visit again. I’ve had jobs that I like (such as my current one) and jobs that I’ll never work again (and fortunately I don’t have to return to them).

There are people who never change, who never grow, and who are quite content to repeat the same thing day after day. Whether it’s related to a penchant to routinely engage in unhealthy relationships, a fear of change because newness is uncomfortable, or simply intellectual laziness, each of us might know someone who is the same today that they were 10 or 20 years ago.

“They’re consistent!” you might contend. True, consistency is vital if we’re going to judge a person’s character (and yes, judging people is done on a daily basis—even by the same hypocrites who lament against judgmental people). Consistency lets us know that someone will or won’t resort to double-standards. Consistency lets us know that someone will or won’t play devil’s advocate simply for the sake of argument. Consistency lets us know that someone will or won’t steal money if we let them alone with it. Consistency lets us know who people are at their core.

At the same time, consistency shouldn’t equate to stagnation.

Change is a part of what makes life worth living, and I felt that it was time for a change while staying consistent.

Over the last six years I’ve had two Windows-driven Dell PCs. Truth be told, I had never had any significant problems—even ones that other PC users have had. In terms of machinery, I can’t say that any of my Dells let me down. What I can say, however, is that Dell’s human element left a bad taste in my mouth.

Three years ago my brother fell victim to a bait-and-switch promotion from Dell, in which they initially told him that he qualified for an interest-free payment plan. Lo and behold, they later—after a few payments and after a “further review”—informed him that he no longer qualified for an interest-free payment plan. He subsequently dipped into his checking account to pay off the balance in full.

A few months later my father experienced an even bigger hassle from Dell. He signed up for a lease-to-buy plan but when the lease was up—and when he was ready to call the PC his own—he received a bill for “failure to notify” and a late-payment bill for the failure-to-notify bill.

“What the fuck?” he thought, and promptly called the Dell customer (dis)service number. The Indian gentleman on the other end informed my dad that Dell now requires customers to call a hotline and inform them that the lease is up. Failure to do so, said the man, results in a $15 fine. The second bill was a fine for failing to pay the initial $15.

“Why would I have to inform you of the lease ending?” my father inquired. “Aren’t you the ones who already know when it’s up?”

“Of course we know,” the customer disservice representative said. “But you need to call us to confirm that it’s up or you pay a fee.” That, said the man on the other side of the globe, was Dell’s policy.

To make a long story short, my dad paid off all the “fines” and vowed to never do business with Dell again. I couldn’t blame him; I wouldn’t want to deal with such shady people and frankly I’d have no sympathy if Dell ended up filing for chapter seven bankruptcy (that’s the liquidation one, for those unaware).

Having had my last Dell since early-2006, I started thinking about getting something new. I save a lot of stuff, I use a computer on a daily basis, and a decision had to be made. Another Dell? Hell no. An HP? Possibly. But wait, I thought; do I want a PC with Vista? Do I want to keep Windows XP until the time that Windows 7 comes out? Do I even want Windows anymore?

It was a legitimate thought. I use a Mac daily at work and it’s quite easy to use. The screen image was more attractive than the PC and the drag-and-drop approach to everything was nice. What was holding me back? After all, months ago I said good-bye to Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox. As far as software goes, most of the stuff that I need to use is available on either operating system and in the case of creating both documents and presentations, I’d sooner use iWork’s Pages and Keynote applications having experienced too many bugs with Office 2008’s Word and PowerPoint. I’m also working on a project with several students in which iMovie HD 6 (yes, it’s much better than iMovie ’08) is crucial.

My best friend bought an iMac and he loves it, so what was stopping me from buying one, too? To be honest, nothing. I’m not brand loyal, so making switches aren’t a big deal to me. If something works well, I’m going to go with it as long as I can afford it. Whether it’s from Redmond, Washington, or Cupertino, California, if it gets the job done for me, I’m going to purchase it.

And so, I did. Now I have one cord for the entire unit—not counting the lines from the mouse to the keyboard and the keyboard to the iMac—instead of around 15 (my old Dell monitor had three alone). Now I have one reasonably-sized unit instead of two massive pieces of hardware.

One of my friends—a Windows devotee—referred to Macs as “dumbed-down.” Having used them, and having used Windows-based PCs since Windows 95, I might be more tempted to call them “user-friendly.”

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